The Daughter of Iris
by RubyFlash321
Summary: Vanessa is a daughter of Iris, and she stays in the Hermes cabin because there IS no Iris cabin...yet. And as unlikely as it is, she finds a friend in our favorite son of Hades. But maybe there's more. (Hint: there will be more) Nico/OC *In rewrite*
1. Prologue

**So I haven't written anything on these in three years. And I was such a bad writer back then in my opinion, at least when it came to character development, so I'm rewriting a lot of my old stories. It has made me so happy to see this story getting so much love, given that I posted it over two and a half years ago and haven't updated it in two years. Like, it almost puts me in tears to see the "keep going" "keep writing this" comments because I can't. I can't keep writing it the way I used to because I've changed as a writer and I now give a shit about plot and description and good character development and shit, whereas I didn't when I started this story. Also, I may not have the time. I'm going into my junior year of high school, the main thing that's kept me from my fanfiction for the past two years.**

**This is a Nico/OC story, where the OC is a child of Iris, and yeah…basically a self-insert with a different name, I'm sorry. And for those who haven't read the heroes of Olympus series, please disregard the following section: I know Riordan writes Nico as having a crush on Percy, and that's caused some controversy over his sexuality, but Nico is also shown as being embarrassed by contact with girls. So, I believe he is bisexual, but you can interpret his sexuality however you want.**

**My character's name is Vanessa Ella Smith. Vanessa because it's a Greek name meaning butterfly, which are typically very colorful; Ella because it means fairy in English and (I think) light or bright in Greek. I am bit tentative on these translations though, so don't quote me. One of my sources also told me that people named Ella tend to be creative and drawn to the arts, which I thought was fitting given that she is a child of Iris, goddess of the rainbow.**

**The first few chapters will be a bit of an introduction, but Nico will show up eventually. Most of the powers and abilities I'm writing about, come directly from the books or the wiki. Otherwise, they come from headcanons, which, when they come up, will be explained in my author's notes.**

**So, yeah, enjoy the story, follow and favorite if you like, rates and reviews are welcome. Constructive criticism is most certainly welcome, so thank you in advance.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series, as that belongs to Rick Riordan. Any similarities of my character to a real person is purely coincidental.**

_~*~ 3__rd__ Person POV ~*~_

Vincent Smith stood at an easel, facing the sunrise over the ocean. His feet were covered in sand, his sandals doing nothing to protect them from the gritty substance. His dirty blond hair smoothed back over his head, his wife beater and board shorts showing off his pale skin stretched over his toned body, his green eyes flashing with the excitement of doing what he loves. Vincent Smith was an artist, one of many trying to capture the beauty of the rising sun over the water of New York's beaches.

Unknown to the artist, however, there was another on the beach at this time of day. A woman with warm brown hair and dark eyes stood watching from afar, adorned with a gauzy dress that seemed to shimmer in all the colors of the rainbow. She watched as the man at the easel mixed the colors on his palette as fast as he could, trying to capture the colorful scene in front of him. She thought he would fail, as most artists do, to capture the pure beauty of the sunrise, but as she looked on, she was pleasantly surprised to find that she was incorrect in her judgment.

Deciding to make her presence known, she walked to the man as he was packing his materials up, his painting still upon the easel. "In all my time," the woman began, startling the man, "I've never seen anyone skilled enough to capture the beauty of the sunrise so expertly. You truly are a wonderful artist."

Vincent blushed at the compliment. "Thank you, uh…" The man trailed off, searching for this beautiful woman's name.

"Iris," she supplied.

"Iris," the artist repeated. "That's a lovely name, perfect for a woman as lovely as yourself. My name's Vincent." He stuck out his hand before noticing it was covered in paint splotches. Before he could take his hand back to wipe it off, Iris grabbed his hand and shook it, fully aware of the paint now transferring itself to her own hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Vincent," she said with a warm smile and an amused look in her eyes.

_~*~ Time Skip ~*~ 4 years later ~*~_

"Daddy, Daddy, look what I made!" were the joyful screams that Vincent Smith heard from his 3-year-old daughter Vanessa as she ran up to him with a piece of paper in her hands. She had her father's green eyes, but her mother's warm brown hair. And even though she was only 3, Vincent could tell she would grow up to look just like the goddess he'd met on the beach. He chuckled as he set down his palette and paintbrush and crouched down to meet his daughter at her level. She shoved the piece of paper in his face with a loud, "Look!"

He gently took the paper from his daughter's hands and inspected the colorful illustration she had made of what appeared to be a woman with brown hair, dark eyes, and colorful clothes. It was by no means the best portrait he'd ever seen, but it was still pretty good for a 3-year-old. "Who's this, sweetie?" he asked, thinking maybe his daughter had drawn Ms. Young from the house next door.

Ms. Young was a kind woman, around Vincent's age, who had a passion for art like he did. They would sometimes be found discussing the pros and cons of certain paint brands over tea. She did dress colorfully, but she had blonde hair and blue eyes, not brown hair and dark eyes, like his daughter had drawn. Perhaps it was Mrs. Green from across the street. Vanessa and Mrs. Green's daughter Acacia were often seen playing and drawing together, even if Acacia was a few years older. Mrs. Green had brown hair, like the picture, but she had green eyes and dressed in shades of brown and green, instead of rainbows, like the woman in the picture apparently did. Vincent was snapped out of his thoughts by his daughter's voice. "That's my mommy," Vanessa said proudly, putting her hands behind her back and rocking back and forth on her feet.

Vincent looked back down at the drawing and felt tears pricking the back of his eyes. It was. It looked exactly like the goddess he'd met on the beach a few years ago. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat and forced the tears back. He looked back up at his daughter. "Vanessa, sweetie," he started carefully, "you don't have a mommy, remember?"

"But I do," his daughter protested. "She visits me while I'm sleeping and tells me she loves me. She wears pretty clothes and she sparkles, too." Vincent froze. Yep, it was definitely her.

"What do you mean, 'when you're sleeping?'" he asked, hoping she wasn't sneaking into the house or anything.

"She sends me sweet dreams and tells me I'm special," Vanessa said. Okay, false alarm…sorta. There was no intruder, but now Vincent knew that Iris was in contact with their daughter.

"You are, sweetie," Vincent said, hugging his daughter close. "You are very special, my little butterfly."

_~*~ Time Skip ~*~ 3 years later ~*~_

"Daddy, do you have to go?" whined a 6-year-old Vanessa as she watched her father get ready for his date with Ms. Young. He was finishing buttoning up his shirt and pulled his suspenders up over his shoulders.

"Yes, sweetie," Vincent replied, turning around and bending down to his daughter's level and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "But don't worry. I've hired a very nice girl to watch over you while I'm gone. Her name is Tammi." Just then, the doorbell rang. "That's probably her." He walked Vanessa to the door and opened it to reveal a blonde-haired cheerleader-looking girl with glaring icy blue eyes and a fake smile of pearly, perfect, white teeth.

"Hi, Mr. Smith," she chirped. "I'm Tammi, we spoke over the phone."

"Right, of course, please come in," he replied, waving her in.

She stepped inside and looked around. "What a lovely home you have," she said. "Is all of this artwork yours?"

"Well, some of it," Vincent answered, chuckling a bit. "Others were done by some of my friends." Finally, Tammi noticed little Vanessa hiding behind her father's legs.

"You must be Vanessa," Tammi practically purred, flashing another fake grin. "We are gonna have so much fun tonight."

Vanessa hid behind her father even more and tugged on his shirt. "Dad, I'm scared," she whined. "Why can't I just stay over at Acacia's house?"

"Because Acacia's family is having relatives over and we can't impose on them," her dad replied. "Now stop being silly and say hi to Tammi. You're being really rude right now." She shuffled out of hiding and looked up at Tammi, who was smiling wickedly down at her. "Well, I should get going. My cell number, the pizza place number, and some money is on the counter in the kitchen. Vanessa's favorite is pepperoni and sausage. Please make sure she's in bed by 9. Vanessa, be good for Tammi. No ice cream until after dinner, okay? I love you, I'll see you when I get home." He bent down to give her a kiss on the forehead, grabbed his keys and wallet, and left.

_~*~ Time Skip ~*~ 1 hour later ~*~_

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Vanessa let out a loud scream as Tammi chased her around the house. This had been going on for the last half an hour. Probably longer because not even half an hour after Vincent had left, Vanessa had seen Tammi change into some type of monster with pale white skin, red eyes, flames for hair, long claws, fangs, and two mismatched legs, one that was an animal leg and the other made of some type of metal. It clunked around as she chased Vanessa up the stairs and into her father's studio. She, like any evil bitch monster would do with flaming hair, had been torching the place, as well, alerting the neighbors that something was wrong, in case the screaming didn't give it away. Sirens in the distance meant the police, the fire brigade, and probably the paramedics were on their way.

While in the studio, there was a loud knocking at the door. "Vanessa!" It was Acacia. "Vanessa!"

"Acacia!" Vanessa screamed, cornered in the small studio, Tammi closing in on her, Vincent's paintings and supplies burning around them. "Acacia, help me!" She managed to duck around Tammi, but not before she raked her claws against Vanessa's side, giving her a deep gash. Vanessa screamed in pain, but she kept running, down the stairs as Acacia was coming up them. Acacia grabbed Vanessa's hand and dragged her down the stairs and out the front door, which had been kicked in. As they made it outside, they collapsed on the grass of Vanessa's front lawn.

It was then that Vanessa noticed Acacia's legs, letting out another scream. "What? What is it?" Acacia asked, looking around in a panic.

"Y-your legs!" Vanessa yelled, pointing at the limbs, which were that of a goat. "Why do you have goat legs?" Just as Acacia was about to answer, they heard the tell-tale clunking of Tammi's metallic leg as she made her way outside.

"I'll explain in a bit, Van," Acacia said in a low voice as she stood up. "For now, lemme take care of Tammi." Vanessa just nodded and moved behind Acacia. What happened next was a blur, literally. Vanessa's vision started to blur together as she collapsed on the lawn, passing out from exhaustion. All she could remember was the sound of metal cutting through flesh and a high-pitched scream.

When she woke up, she was moving, or at least, the ambulance she was in was moving, but of course she was too young to realize that. When she opened her eyes, she saw the doors in the back, lights whizzing past as they drove through traffic. She looked to her right and saw Acacia, nervously chewing her nails, no more goat legs. She looked to her left and saw her dad looking at her worriedly. "Vanessa, can you hear me, sweetheart?"

"Daddy, what's going on?" she asked in a tired voice. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you later, sweetie, but right now, you're in an ambulance. We're on our way to the hospital, where the doctors are gonna ask you a few questions about how you're feeling, okay? For now, just go back to sleep, baby."

Vanessa yawned, "Okay," and shut her eyes, going back to sleep. She woke up again when her dad was carrying her into the hospital.

"Time to wake up now, baby girl," she heard her dad's voice say. "The doctors need to ask you a few questions. He carried her into a room and set her down on the examination chair so she was sitting on the edge. A doctor came in, checked her vital signs, asked her dad a few questions, and left, no questions for Vanessa at all. She caught a few things of what they were saying, something about "diss-lecks-ee-uh" and "ay-dee-aytch-dee" but otherwise, she was too tired to pay attention. She just wanted to go home and sleep some more and see her mommy.

"Daddy, can we go home yet?" she asked in a tired voice, rubbing her eyes. "I'm tired. I wanna see mommy again."

"Don't worry sweetie, we'll go home in a little bit. I'll tell you everything in the morning." As Vanessa started to fall back asleep, Vincent picked her up and walked down to the discharge desk to get her released, Acacia following right behind him.

_~*~ Time Skip ~*~ the next morning ~*~_

Luckily most of the house and a lot of the things in it had survived the fire. Vincent's studio, however had not. And now there were fire damage marks over the house, a lot of things were scorched, but there were more things that could just be washed and end up fine.

Vanessa woke up that morning very slowly. Thank fully it was already summer break, so she didn't have to worry about school or getting dressed. She walked down the stairs, clutching the handrail with one hand and rubbing her eyes with the other. When she got to the kitchen, she saw that her dad had made pancakes. "Good morning, sweetheart," came her dad's voice. "How did you sleep?"

"Okay," she replied, pulling herself up onto a chair at the table to wait for pancakes. A plate slid in front of her and she immediately dug in. While she was eating, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it, sweetie," her dad said, patting her head and heading towards the door. He opened it and said, "Oh good morning, Acacia. Would you like to come in for breakfast? I made pancakes."

"Morning, Mr. Smith, and yes, I would love a plate. Thank you." He let Acacia in and she came and took a seat next to Vanessa. A plate was slid in front of Acacia, and she dug in. when the girls had finished their food, Acacia said she had to talk to them about what had happened.

The three of them moved to the living room, and Acacia sat Vanessa and her father on the couch. "Now, Vanessa," she started, "I've already been talking to your dad about this, but you should know: you're not normal." Vanessa nodded with wide eyes as Acacia kept going. "You're half-human, half-god. You're a demigod, Vanessa. All those Greek myths you love reading about, they're real, and you get to be a part of them."

"Wow, really?" Vanessa asked, bouncing with excitement. Acacia nodded with a serious look on her face. Vanessa noticed this and stopped bouncing, but she couldn't contain her grin.

"Yes, Vanessa, really," Acacia continued. "Your mother, from what your father has told me, is Iris, goddess of the rainbow. And I'm a satyr, that's why you saw me with goat legs last night."

"I knew that wasn't a dream," Vanessa whispered to herself seriously.

"No, it wasn't," Acacia chuckled. "And if it's okay with both you and your father, I'd like to take you to a special summer camp for kids like you, a camp for demigods. It's called Camp Half-Blood."

Thus began Vanessa's life as a demigod.

**So yeah, hi. This was essentially the new prologue for this story, I'm going to be rewriting the chapters a bit to give better character development and such, not give everything away so quickly, even though I've already stated how this is going to end up. If you've read the Heroes of Olympus series (including Blood of Olympus), then you should know that so have I, and I will try and accommodate that into this story, if only just a little. But there will be some of that while still keeping this relationship…I think.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Getting back into the writing game is…I don't even know. Exhilarating? Exhausting? All of them? Eeeuuuh? Whatever.**

**So this will be the first chapter where one of the headcanons I have comes into play. The headcanon I have is that children of Iris love friendship bracelets and kandi (the bracelets that people wear at raves that are made of pony beads), so much that their arms are covered in the things, up to their shirt sleeves, and they have to make them a bit big or make them adjustable in order to even fit them up their arms. They're all gung-ho about camp crafts and stuff and they wear/share everything they make.**

**Disclaimer: The Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus franchise is the intellectual property of Rick Riordan. I only own Vanessa. Any resemblance to other people or characters, fictional or not, is purely coincidental.**

~*~ 3rd Person PoV ~*~

6-year-old Vanessa stood at the top of Half-Blood Hill with Acacia by her side. They had duffel bags slung over their shoulders and suitcases beside them. "Well, Van," Acacia started, "are you ready?"

"I don't know," Vanessa replied. "I mean, I'm still trying to get over the fact that you're a satyr." Acacia shifted her weight from hoof to hoof. She had shed her disguise when they got to camp, because satyrs were so commonplace here, and it would be good to give Vanessa a little more exposure to this new world.

"Alright, well, just let me know when you're ready." They stood there for a few more minutes, just taking in the sight of the camp. Vanessa sighed. "You good?"

At Vanessa's nod, they started towards the bottom of the hill. Acacia led Vanessa to the Big House, a big, light blue house, where they were met with the sight of a bearded man in a wheelchair with a blanket on his lap and a man with an ugly leopard print Hawaiian shirt playing some sort of card game. The man in the wheelchair looked up when the girls reached the porch of the house.

"Welcome back, Acacia," he said with a warm, gentle voice. "I see young Miss Vanessa has decided to join us this summer."

Acacia nodded and replied, "It's good to be home, Chiron."

"Wait, wait, wait, Chiron?!" Vanessa sputtered. "As in the famous centaur, Chiron?!"

"Yes, that would be me," Chiron chuckled.

Vanessa blinked. "Well, no offense, mister, but where's your horse butt?" Acacia flushed and quickly turned to Vanessa with a shocked expression on her face.

"Vanessa!" she screeched. Meanwhile, Chiron was rubbing his temples and chuckling, and the guy in the leopard shirt was laughing his head off.

"Acacia, it's quite alright," Chiron assured. "It's a common question that a lot of young and new campers ask. Let me show you, Vanessa." With that he grabbed the arrests of his wheelchair and started to push himself up. Vanessa watched as his legs stayed in place, but his torso seemed to stretch on forever…until a pair of a horses front legs popped out from underneath the blanket. Vanessa watched in awe as the body of a horse came out from this tiny wheelchair until a full-bodied centaur was standing in front of her. "You see?"

All Vanessa could do was nod. Her mouth hung open in awe and shock until Acacia said, "Vanessa close your mouth, you'll catch flies." She picked her jaw up off the ground and gulped, still staring wide-eyed at the glorious creature she'd only read about in books.

"Vanessa Ella Smith, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance," Chiron said, nodding his head. Vanessa smiled and gave a little curtsy in return. "My name is Chiron, and I'll be your Activities Director here at Camp Half-Blood. This is Mr. D, the Camp Director." Vanessa watched as he pulled a Diet Coke can out of thin air.

"Does the D stand for Dionysus?" Vanessa asked curiously.

"Very good, Vanessa. That it does. Acacia, would you mind show–," he was cut off by Mr. D.

"Actually, I need Acacia to work in the Fields today. Grover didn't show up, and a few others caught some fleas going around, so we're short-staffed." His voice was smooth, but not very deep. His words were slightly slurred together, but I guess that's what one would expect from the god of wine.

"Well, we need someone to show Vanessa around camp, and I'm about to head to an archery lesson."

"What about that Larry kid?" Mr. D asked, but Chiron just looked confused. "You know from the Hermes cabin? She's probably gonna be staying there for a bit anyways."

"You mean Luke Castellan?"

Mr. D took a sip from his Diet Coke. "Yeah, whatever." He turned to Acacia. "What are you still standing there for? Go head over to the fields." Acacia jumped and let out a squeak before clopping away nervously.

"Come on, Vanessa," Chiron said, leading the child away with a hand on her back. "Let's go introduce you to your new cabin-mates." He led her away from the Big House and towards a group of 12 cabins in a U-shape. Vanessa took a look around and saw a bunch of campers hustling and bustling about, but none of them seemed to notice the young girl who looked a little older than Vanessa herself sitting by the fire in the middle of all the cabins. The girl looked over at Vanessa, who smiled and waved. She seemed surprised, but waved back. Chiron led Vanessa up to an old-looking cabin with chipping brown paint and knocked on the door. A boy about Vanessa's age with bright eyes and curly brown hair opened.

"Hey, Chiron," the boy said, "what's up?"

"Hello, Travis. Could you please get Luke for me?"

"Sure thing!" Travis turned his head from the doorway. "LUKE! IT'S FOR YOU!" He turned back with a stupid grin before stepping from the doorway to allow a tall teenage boy with blond hair to come forward. He looked tired and anxious and had dark circles under his eyes. Chiron didn't make any comment; in fact, Vanessa doubted if he even noticed the boy's upset appearance.

"Hello, Chiron," the boy said. "How can I help you?"

"Luke, this is Vanessa Smith," Chiron said, gesturing to the small girl standing beside him. "She's new to camp, and I was hoping you would show her around, given that she will be staying in your cabin until she is claimed."

"Yeah, of course, Chiron." He turned back to the rest of the cabin. "Guys, I'll be back in a while. Don't prank any of the other campers, no stealing while I'm gone, and by the gods, keep the place clean. If I come back and find any of these rules broken, I will prank you so hard, it'll make what they did in The Parent Trap look like child's play! Connor, Travis, come get the newbie's bags and find her a place to sleep." He turned back as Travis and boy who looked like Travis's twin came to get Vanessa's suitcase and backpack. They took the bags and disappeared back into the cabin. "Alright, Vanessa, are you ready to go?"

Vanessa looked up at him and nodded. He held out a hand for her to take. She took his hand, and he led her away to show her the camp.

~*~ A few days later ~*~

Vanessa had yet to be claimed. And frankly, it was a little cramped inside the Hermes cabin with all his children and the other unclaimed kids. But Vanessa had adapted to camp life pretty quickly: get up in the morning, get ready for the day, eat breakfast, camp activities until lunch, eat lunch, camp activities until dinner, dinner, campfire, go to bed.

She had already made a few friends with some kids from a few different cabins. The Hermes cabin, of course, were her first friends, almost like a second family. A few Aphrodite girls noticed she was really good with color combinations and making attractive color palettes, but they just attributed that to her being raised with an artist for a dad. Nevertheless, they would often come to her asking if their outfits looked good, and she was always happy to help. She made especially good friends with a daughter of Aphrodite named Silena Beauregard while helping out with the pegasi. And a few children of Apollo seemed to really like her, especially when she helped make cover designs for some of their epic poems and ballads or helped them make and decorate some new instruments. They offered her singing lessons in return for all her help, which she was happy to accept. They even told that maybe in a few weeks, she could join them on stage at the campfire.

Chiron wouldn't let her do any of the "big kid" activities just yet, like fighting, climbing the lava wall, or making armor. But while she wasn't allowed to participate in dangerous activities, she could watch. She was allowed, however, to swim in the lake, go to arts and crafts, run laps around the chariot track, help the satyrs in the fields, and help take care of the pegasi. It was nice; it was easy.

Meals were interesting. Though, it did take a little while for Vanessa to get used to her drink automatically filling up in her cup. When she got to the Hermes table, she would immediately be handed a plate of delicious food and without even sitting down, she would walk up to the fire to sacrifice a portion of her food to the gods, praying to all the gods who would listen that she would be claimed soon. Then she would sit down and eat at the overcrowded Hermes table.

About a week after she arrived, her prayers were answered. Vanessa was in Arts and Crafts, making friendship bracelets (even though her arms were already seriously covered in the things) with some of the Aphrodite girls. Vanessa was working on her 10th bracelet in an hour, while the other girls were all on their 1st or 2nd. They were talking about how activities were going and if there was anyone they liked. "Well," Silena Beauregard said. "I think Charles Beckendorf, you know the guy from the Hephaestus cabin, is kinda cute." She had a small smile and a blush on her cheeks. The other girls shared knowing looks and giggles.

"He's really nice to me," Vanessa replied. "And he's really tall. Sometimes he gives me piggyback rides." Silena giggled. She looked over and was about to say something but she stopped short, staring at something above Vanessa's head. "What? What is it?" She looked up and saw a glowing symbol above her head, but she couldn't see what it was. It seemed to glow in every color of the rainbow.

Before Vanessa even knew what was happening, Silena grabbed her hand and started dragging her towards the Big House, yelling for Chiron with the other Aphrodite girls following. He galloped over from around the other side and stopped short when he saw them. Floating above her head was a shimmering icon of a rainbow. "Will someone please tell me what the heck is going on?!" Vanessa shouted.

"Vanessa, you've just been claimed," Chiron said quietly, "by Iris, the goddess of the rainbow."

**So…yeah. There's the official chapter 1 of this fic. I'm pretty happy with how it's coming out. Sorry I haven't published it in over a month, but I've been really busy with school and junk. Follow, favorite, and review. It all means a lot and it would really encourage me to keep writing. I love you guys. Happy Holidays, if I don't post anything else before they pass.**


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